Fake snakes take the pee

Austrian officials fed up with motorists stopping to urinate by the roadside have put up fake snake warnings to scare them into using toilets.

Franz Perder, manager of a motorway restaurant in Guntramsdorf where some of the signs have been placed, said: "The idea is that people stop to relieve themselves, see the warning about snakes and get back in the car instead of going to the bushes to take a leak.

"Of course there are no snakes but they don't know that. The warnings have worked really well."

Officials say the worst culprits are East Europeans. The signs read 'Beware, mortal danger. Snakes' in Polish and Czech alongside a picture of a cobra. It also has the sign in English and German.

Perder said: "People were fed up with the smell of urine in the car parks, even though the toilets are free.

"We tried other signs but they were useless. These signs though have really worked. You see men coming up to bushes, getting ready to have a pee and then quickly zipping up their trousers again when they see the signs."